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[Sound of the Desert]

Episode 33

Are you all right?

I sprained my ankle.

Can you still walk?

No, it hurts too much. I can't walk.

This won't do. Wu Ji is fuming mad.

It's dangerous for him to go hunting like this.

Wu Ji...

General Wei, this little path seems accessible.

Who on earth are you?

General Wei, look!

Xiao Yue?

Li Ji...

How did this happen?

Xiao Yue, leave now.

We have to leave together.

Silly woman.

You certainly are my woman.

All right, we will take Li Ji with us.

It's your blessings to be so silly.

This is useless...

This is Wei Wu Ji's arrow.

Although he didn't plan on killing me

he didn't show any mercy either.

Li Ji, you mustn't die.

Qin Xiang is just outside the grounds.

If you die, what would you have her do?

Qin Xiang...

Wu Ji, how could you shoot him?

You're really muddleheaded!

If Li Ji dies, you'll be sentenced to death according to Nan Dynasty's law!

Don't blame him...

We were both being set up.

A woman suddenly appeared from nowhere

and engaged in combat with me.

She dealt every blow ruthlessly, so I had to go for the kill.

Now that I see how you're dressed

I finally figured out the reason...

Sima Lie purposely gave Wu Ji a reason to be mad at you.

He said that you attacked Great General Wan.

That day, when I heard that my father had taken his own life

I was so furious that I went straight to the manor to confront the general.

Two of Great General Wan's subjects refused to let me in.

They wouldn't let me see him.

They were disrespectful.

Who knew that they even told on me first?

But I...

Xin Yue...

I need to ask you for a favor.

I beg you, please let Qin Xiang off.

I'm begging you...

There has to be a bottom line.

But I can promise you that

I will do my best to bear with Qin Xiang.

I would also ask Wu Ji to spare Qin Xiang's life.

Wu Ji...

Someone is trying to get you killed.

Your Majesty! General Wei has shot General Li Ji!

What?

How is General Li now?

I do not know if he is still alive or not.

Your Highness, are you all right?

Where is General Wei now?

He is surrounded by the herd of deer.

Save them! We have to save them quickly!

Your Majesty, it's a dangerous terrain. We'll have to send in the troops.

Take this tally and summon the guards at Ganquan Palace. Quickly!

Yes, Your Majesty.

Your Majesty, I'm willing to take my men with me to rescue them.

We'll discuss after we get to see Wu Ji.

We are willing to follow General Wan!

I consent to it. Quickly!

Li Ji, you have to be all right.

You have to be all right.

Wu Ji, I insisted on coming here with you

because I was worried that something might happen to you.

No matter what happens, at least we are by each other's side.

What Li Ji said to you today...

Forget everything that he told you.

Wu Ji, leave now!

- Your Highness! - Madame!

Madame!

- Take her back to the tent. - Yes!

Take General Li Ji's body away.

Give me a reason!

Don't you know that the penalty for killing an important official is death?

This is my fault!

General Li Ji once attacked Great General Wan.

However, Great General Wan did not pursue any actions against Li Ji

as he was aggrieved by the death of his father.

But I had accidentally let slip

of this matter to General Wei today.

You...

Get lost!

Your Majesty, one is my nephew

and the other is my subject.

I should also be held responsible for this matter.

Please punish me as well.

Wu Ji, I saw that you had matured a lot in leading the army over the years.

Now that you have a wife and child, you should rein in your temper even more.

Who knew that you would do such a thing today?

Tell me honestly!

What else did that Li Ji do?

Do you think that I wouldn't dare to kill you?

Xin Yue, come here.

Xin Yue is willing to live and die with you.

Would you make her a widow?

Or would you have her die with you?

Whether he needs Wu Ji's talents or that he finds this matter suspicious

His Majesty has been trying to give Wu Ji chances to explain.

He is even trying to use my life as a threat to make Wu Ji speak up

so that he could avoid punishing Wu Ji.

Xin Yue, should I ask you if you are willing to die

or would it seem to be redundant?

I am willing to be in company with Young General Wei.

Are there other guards who were killed by the herd of deer?

Your Majesty, there are eight victims altogether.

Li Ji accidentally barged into the herd of galloping deer

and was killed in a stampede.

Li Ji is to be buried with full honors.

- Long live Your Majesty! - Long live Your Majesty!

- How tragic... - First it was General Li Da.

Then Chancellor Li Que.

And now even General Li Ji is dead.

This is such a huge loss.

All three commanders of this family are dead now.

The days of Li family are now over.

They are really unfortunate.

He was in the prime of his youth. This is such a pity.

The Senior Princess and I will do our best to help the Li family.

We will look after the women and children in this family.

My sincere condolences to you.

I thank Great General Wan and Senior Princess for your concern.

Since Li Ji's death

Wu Ji realized how insignificant kinship is in the power struggle of the palace.

He has become a lot quieter.

I don't know how to help Wu Ji with this problem.

I can only stay by his side quietly

so that he wouldn't feel as if he is alone.

General!

I've summoned you here to make it known to you

what the situation is like in Jian-An City now.

As your commander, I may not be able to protect all of you anymore.

You may also be shunned because of me.

Is it because of General Li Ji?

As for what happened on Ganquan mountain

you should have heard rumors about it, whether you were there or not.

In no time, more and more officials will start to go against me.

The force to take me down will grow stronger.

There will be those who will use this chance to subdue my men.

We are not scared of that!

Nor would we serve under someone else because of this!

- Exactly! - We will always serve General Wei!

No matter what happens, we will always serve under General Wei!

We will always serve you!

I have already told you what the current situation is.

I have no control over your decisions.

What are your plans, Sir? How do you intend to deal with this situation?

I don't plan to do anything about it.

You were once bosom friends on the battlefields

as well as victims in the power struggle.

You died in Wu Ji's hands.

Although you didn't hate Wu Ji

he felt upset about it nevertheless.

Even if I hadn't killed him, Li Ji would have come to such an end anyway.

Since he had already come to a thorough understanding, he had nothing to hate.

I pride myself as a man who holds my head high and had little regret.

The deed is done.

Although I feel sorry about it

I have no regrets.

I've kept Li Ji's last words in mind.

It is my blessing to be silly.

I am thankful that till the very end, Li Ji and I are still bosom friends.

Only those who couldn't understand or cherish what they once had would be upset.

Stop playing.

This was his favorite tune.

This was the first tune that I played for him.

Nothing can be changed now.

Why would you torment yourself so, even if you are truly miserable?

Your Highness, His Majesty has sent you a message.

He said that he must see you.

No.

I don't wish to see anyone.

Your Majesty.

My sister is ill and very weak. She cannot meet Your Majesty.

Please forgive her, Your Majesty.

Why did she get so ill?

I know that Li Ji once saved Qin Xiang and the prince.

But Li Ji is dead.

Why would Qin Xiang be so upset

that she harmed her own health?

I would still like to see her.

I have already tried to persuade her

but she still refused to meet you.

Please forgive her, Your Majesty.

Your Majesty, these reports are filed to impeach Wei Wu Ji.

They asked to hold Wei Wu Ji responsible for Li Ji's death.

They would like Wei Wu Ji to give them an explanation.

They asked that Wei Wu Ji be punished for his crime.

All right! I am so sick of hearing that!

But... Your Majesty will still have to handle this issue

in order to resolve this dispute.

Although we came up with an excuse for General Li Ji's death

the anger of the other officials arose as they are suppressed.

I understand that Your Majesty cherishes great talents.

You would like to protect Wei Wu Ji.

Unfortunately, Wei Wu Ji has made many enemies over the years.

Hence, so many have lashed out at him.

If Your Majesty doesn't make a decision

others might project their anger for Wei Wu Ji at Your Majesty...

How insolent!

General Wan.

What do you think I should do with Wei Wu Ji?

Your Majesty, I think that despite what rumors might go around

or what they might have witnessed

General Li Ji's death had nothing to do with Wei Wu Ji.

I know deep in my heart, and I'm sure Your Majesty does as well

that Wei Wu Ji is greatly concerned about the stability of Nan Dynasty.

For the sake of Your Majesty and the Crown Prince

he will certainly take on full responsibility for everything

without a word of complaint.

Wei Wu Ji is to be demoted and relocated outside the Great Wall.

He will guard and defend Youdu City.

His Majesty has already decreed that Wu Wei Ji is to be relocated to Youdu.

From now on, Wei Wu Ji will no longer pose any threat to Wan family.

We must not forget that Wei Wu Ji has a group of loyal subordinates.

They will always support him.

When Wei Wu Ji returns to Jian-An one day

and plans to rise to power again

it wouldn't be a difficult task.

I think it is best to deepen the misunderstanding between

Li family's previous subordinates as well as other commanders

and Wei Wu Ji's subordinates.

They won't last long without their commander.

If not, we'll use extreme measures to force them into changing sides.

How is that a solution?

What is the use in getting rid of those insignificant soldiers?

If we have to get rid of someone, it should be Wei Wu Ji!

Wan Ang!

Tell me honestly

if you were the ones who plotted step by step to make Wu Ji fall into your trap?

That is correct.

Father, you finally realized that your son is not to be meddled with!

I can still take Wei Wu Ji down!

Ang Er, that's enough.

You have also done enough!

I understand that Great General is a generous and righteous man.

That is also the reason why I admired you in the first place.

But after all these years. you haven't changed at all.

Which is why I had to scheme and plot for you over the years

so as to fortify and uphold the status of Wan family.

Do you understand?

Great General should give this some thought. This is a great opportunity.

While Wei Wu Ji loses his power and leaves Jian-An

we should secure the authority of Wan family

and take the upper-hand.

If we are to be confronted with another obstacle

can you pretend not to care

and watch Wan family suffer a downfall?

All right then.

I only have one request.

Stop trying to harm Wu Ji's family.

There is nothing to worry about.

Wan Qian might dote on Wei Wu Ji but he is different from him.

He can't be as unworldly as Wei Wu Ji.

He can't bear to give up everything.

In the end, he would still choose to be responsible for this family.

The truth is, whatever that should and has to be done

he already played a part in it.

There are more and more supporters of the Li family in the imperial court.

We must support Li family

and take care of the widows as well as orphans in their family.

Only then can we win people over.

Xiao Yue...

Look.

You would like to suggest His Majesty to make Zhao Pian

and the other two princes feudal kings?

We'll just have to see if His Majesty agrees to this or not.

Once princes are given the title of feudal kings

they would have to leave Jian-An to live in their territories.

It would seem that they have their own territories

but it is to sever any hope of vying against the Crown Prince.

His Majesty is wary of Wan family.

He's been using the other princes to curb the power of the Crown Prince.

Why would he be willing to do so?

Such a drastic measure is sure to stir up chaos in the palace again.

That is all I can do now.

Before I leave Jian-An

this is the last thing that I will do for Wan family.

In the future, the Wans are on their own.

As for me...

I will not agree to Wei Wu Ji's request.

Your Majesty, I support General Wei's request.

Please do reconsider it.

Such insolence!

Please do reconsider it, Your Majesty.

Are you ganging up to force me to act against my will

or are you risking your life to make such a request?

Please appease your anger, Your Majesty.

But I also ask Your Majesty to make a wise decision.

Only a small fraction of officials

are against the idea of appointing feudal kings.

Most of the imperial officials support the request of Wei Wu Ji.

There is hardly any objection.

Wu Ji must have his reason for making such a request.

I believe that this is beneficial to the Crown Prince.

Wei Wu Ji...

Who knew that you would leave me with such a difficult issue to tackle

before you leave Jian-An?

But no matter what, I won't agree to Wei Wu Ji's request!

- You're all dismissed! - Yes...

Hei Shi.

Why do you think Qin Xiang suddenly summoned me to the palace?

It must be that General Wei's letter to His Majesty has caused a commotion.

It seems that Madame Xiang plans to confirm this matter with you.

General Wei, aren't you worried at all?

I've done all that I could.

I'll just wait for the results.

Don't think too much about it.

You can just call in sick.

I heard that she has been ill.

I'd like to visit her.

Listening to what she has to say might help us understand

what our enemies have in mind.

It's up to you. I am going to visit the Empress anyway.

We will head over to the palace together then.

I'll accompany you.

It's all right.

Greetings to Your Highness.

You may rise.

Come, take a seat.

Then I won't have to use so much strength speaking to you.

- You may all go. - Yes.

You haven't changed at all.

You're still like a flower in full bloom.

But I will wither soon.

Don't say such depressing words.

There are many fine physicians here in the palace.

You are sure to recover well, as long as you put your mind to ease.

I know my own health better than anyone else.

I have done so much

made such a huge effort

and sacrificed so much...

In the end, I lost more than I gained.

Xin Yue, you think so as well, don't you?

What is it of losses and gains?

I came to understand a fact over the years.

One usually ends up destroying oneself with hatred rather than the enemy.

I'm willing to forget about hatred.

I'm willing to only remember the happy moments in life.

I'm willing to leave unhappiness behind and move on from it.

A lifetime is but a few decades.

Even if life is short, there is much that we would like to see or enjoy

but we do not have to time for it.

If we have the time for hatred

we might as well use that time to cherish the happiness we have.

Xin Yue, you are so fortunate.

That is why you can say so.

But there are certain kinds of hatred that must not be forgotten.

If Wei Wu Ji is to be murdered

would you choose to forgive as well?

Would you be able to forget that?

Would you be able to let it go?

You might also sacrifice your life

to seek revenge for him.

Wu Ji is indeed involved in the death of Li Ji.

I am sorry.

Although it was Wei Wu Ji who killed him

it was not his intention to do so.

Xin Yue...

I summoned you here to ask you about a matter.

I will answer if I can.

Before he died...

Did he say anything?

Even if you haven't asked, I was going to tell you

when I have the chance.

[Xiang]

I would beg His Majesty to agree to Wei Wu Ji's request

of appointing the feudal kings.

I'd like to have my son, Pian Er, to stay far away from Jian-An.

I want him to stay away from everything that happens here.

Should there be more wars between

Nan Dynasty and the Tartars in the future

I would like you to ask General Wei to have pity on the people at the frontier

as a token of our friendship.

May no innocent lives be shed nor made homeless

or separated from their families.

That won't happen.

Should that really happen one day

I would surely do my best to help.

Your illness is caused from the heart.

Stop worrying so much.

I am really tired.

I am really exhausted...

I can rest in peace very soon.

By then, I could meet my mother.

I wonder if she would blame me?

But I have already done my best.

I really did.

How I wish I could listen to that poem with the man I love.

Even the best wine is nothing compared to that clear water under the skies.

I'd like to sing and dance by the bonfire at night.

I'd like to chase after our sheep during the day with the man I love.

Blue skies and white clouds...

Great seas and skies...

Just the both of us...

I beg Your Majesty to let me take Shan Er with me to Youdu.

Shan Er is a frail child.

Youdu is cold and deprived of resources.

There are fine physicians here in the palace to look after him.

For the sake of Shan Er's health

he should stay here in the palace.

Wu Ji, do not be worried.

The Empress will take good care of Shan Er.

I am willing to go to Youdu with General Wei.

Please allow me to accompany him.

Your Majesty, if Wan Ang goes to Youdu with Wu Ji

he could learn more from Wu Ji.

This is just a small matter anyway.

Please agree to his request.

- All right then. - Thank you, Your Majesty.

I wonder what Wan Ang has in mind for accompanying you to Youdu.

I am sent there to guard Youdu, but it was first taken from the Tartars by my uncle.

It has been managed by my uncle for years

so it is already very secured.

Moreover, the Tartars have long fled to the north of the desert now.

There isn't really any need to safeguard it.

Wan Ang must be up to no good.

Even if he is, without the help of those scheming old foxes

I have nothing to fear of him.

Wu Ji, do not let your guard down.

It is best to be careful.

You don't have to worry.

I will be careful.

We will see our child very soon.

You should be happy about it. Don't think about unpleasant matters.

I'll go and prepare for the journey.

When we meet our son, we will meet the Ninth Lord again.

It's been almost a year.

I wonder if he is well.

Wu Ji, isn't it supposed to be just Wan Ang tagging along?

What is Sima Lie doing here as well?

He was also demoted because of Li Ji's death.

He is relocated to Youdu.

Wu Ji...

Stop!

There is a great view here!

We will take a rest on the spot and you may all stretch your legs.

General Wei, you're not to lead your army so casually.

We mustn't keep stopping along the way!

All soldiers must obey to their commander, so I call the shots.

We will camp here tonight!

It would be lovely if we could stay in Youdu forever

and stay far away from Jian-An.

But I know that it isn't possible.

You're the only person who could curb the Wan's authority in court.

His Majesty wouldn't give up on you so easily.

The more His Majesty refuses to give up

the greater the danger you are in.

Let us not worry about the future yet.

Why don't I enjoy the scenery with you right now?

You wouldn't be so relaxed in Jian-An.

You wouldn't be so carefree.

This is a rare opportunity that we get to revisit this place.

Should we take a walk to Mingsha Mountain?

Sure.

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